Forget <a href="https://healthylife7.com/as-of-july-1-medicare-covers-wegovy-for-weight-loss-at-50-a-month-the-eligibility-list-is-short/” title=”As of July 1, Medicare Covers Wegovy for Weight Loss at $50 a Month. The Eligibility List Is Short.”>Weight Loss Drugs: Here’s Another Reason to Buy Eli Lilly Stock
Alex Carchidi, The Motley Fool
Wed, July 29, 2026 at 5:56 PM GMT+5:30
4 min read
- LLY
+1.93%
Eli Lilly (NYSE: LLY) brought in $19.8 billion in revenue in the first quarter of 2026, and most of it can be traced back to the medicines everyone has heard of by now: tirzepatide, sold as Mounjaro for type 2 diabetes and Zepbound for obesity. Its weight loss medicines, and the ones behind them in the pipeline, will likely carry the top line for years, though leadership in that market is never guaranteed
But that didn’t stop it from taking steps to expand its pipeline into other areas. On July 16, Lilly agreed to buy AtaiBeckley (NASDAQ: ATAI) for $2.8 billion, plus up to $1 billion more in potential milestone payments. This and other recent acquisitions are another reason to buy the stock, so let’s examine it in more detail
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Lilly’s mental health portfolio is getting deeper
Buying Atai isn’t Lilly’s only recent step into the mental health space
Lilly was already running a phase 3 psychiatry program built on similar biology as its weight-loss drugs. Brenipatide, a dual GLP-1 (glucagon-like peptide-1) and GIP (glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide) receptor agonist, is in late-stage testing for major depressive disorder (MDD), and it’s additionally in development for alcohol use disorder
So even as the company diversifies its pipeline with bolt-on acquisitions and new investment in research and development (R&D), it’s also repurposing assets with the goal of building out its portfolio
AtaiBeckley’s lead asset, BPL-003, is an intranasal formulation of the fast-acting psychedelic 5-MeO-DMT, and it’s now in phase 3 trials for treatment-resistant depression (TRD), meaning depression that hasn’t responded favorably to at least two prior antidepressants. It holds a Breakthrough Therapy designation from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, but the phase 3 data won’t be available until early 2029
Another of the biotech’s programs approaching maturity is VLS-01, a dissolving film applied inside the cheek that delivers the psychedelic DMT. Its phase 2b trial in treatment-resistant depression is scheduled to release data in the fourth quarter of this year, and management plans to advance it into a phase 3 trial in major depressive disorder
These new programs are an insurance policy
One thing to appreciate about the Atai acquisition is that it probably won’t be a big earner for Lilly in comparison to the rest of its portfolio, even if it’s a bullish factor over the long term
